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Monday, 31 July 2017

A topic I have slightly touched on is my best friend who actually lives in Milan! She is over for 12 days, before we go to Milan together for a week, so I've not been as active on social media as usual as I am spending my time with her! We went out last night to a quiz night, which was fun and was something I'd definitely do in the future. First of all, me and Francesca went to Bread Meats Bread, which is honestly the best burger restaurant I've ever been to! They have Bread Meats Bread in Glasgow and Edinburgh (we went to the one in Glasgow), and I hope they expand their restaurants as they are genuinely so good, and I'm sick of telling my English friends about them and knowing they don't understand how good it is!

I ordered a buttermilk fried chicken burger, Francesca ordered a burger with steak, pulled pork and bacon, and we ordered salad and sweet potato fries to share!

After having our burgers (which were mouth-wateringly good!) we walked to Kelvingrove Park. I chatted on the phone to my grandparents, and then we had a walk down to the fountain.

Glasgow Uni is probably the most beautiful university I've seen - on par with Edinburgh! - and we couldn't not take pictures.

You may have caught a picture of this fountain on my Instagram as it is so pretty! We sat on a bench across from it and played 'Heads Up!' for a little while.

And then we decided to walk to the pub where the quiz was held. ('Crossing The Rubicon' in Great Western Road if you're interested.)

We walked the long way, but got pretty views of the River Kelvin so it was worth it.

We got to the pub a lot later than the time, and we were aptly named 'Late but Great', however we weren't all that great until the last question, which I guessed! The question was "According to the 2011 census, what percentage of the population of Wales speak Welsh?" and I guessed 23%, which was the closest to 19%. Then, I had to roll two six's on two dice, which didn't happen and so we didn't win the £160 prize money. :(

Once we left, we decided to walk from Partick to Central train station and seen loads of pretty views. Unfortunately, we had missed sunset by ten minutes so we were unable to get any pretty sunset pictures, but got a few pictures of Glasgow in dusk!

These pictures are of Kelvingrove art galleries and museum in dusk taken by Francesca. She also took pictures of the River Kelvin and Glasgow Uni.

I had such a lovely night and I would recommend a pub quiz to anyone, it's such a fun and enjoyable experience and I had a lot of fun!

Friday, 28 July 2017

Hey guys! I recently picked up a duck-egg blue floral kimono that I found in the New Look sale for a bargain £6(!) so I thought I would share my tips on how to style it. I have always loved the look of kimonos, but was drawn off buying them as I felt they were a fad and a bit pointless. I still do think those things; it's too thin to keep you warm but is just another layer of clothes when it's too hot. Nevertheless, I picked one up (even I can be tempted) and planned to wear to for my holiday to Milan in August. On Monday, we in Scotland got some unexpected warm weather and it was also my youngest sister's birthday, so off we went to Kelvingrove Park and the art galleries. It was a lovely day and I'm so happy with how Instagrammable my outfit looks! My photographer is my sister (not the one who had her birthday on Monday) and I think for a nine year old she is fab at taking photos and getting my good angles!

I wore my kimono from New Look - I actually picked it up from the Generation 915 section in a size medium! I paired it with this classic pink v-neck cami from Forever 21 which I tucked into my high-waisted shorts that I picked up from New Look a few years ago.Overall, I absolutely love my kimono and I'm already thinking up possible outfit combinations so I can wear it again soon!!Love and hugs,Ashleigh♡ xoxo

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

I have a friend who once asked me how I am able to blog, have a part-time job, go to college full-time and have a social life. I simply laughed and said "it's not that hard" but I thought I'd do a post on how I manage it.

First things first, it's okay to have a day/week/month off. If I am having writers block and I don't know what to write about, then I'll take time off as I would rather publish one post that I'm proud of that may have took me a few weeks to come up with than loads of small posts I am not proud of. I think a thing many bloggers forget is that their readers understand what it's like to be busy. Whenever I see a blogger on Twitter talking about how busy they are, but they NEED to post this week, I always remind them that they come first. I know our readers are important to us, but at the end of the day they know how busy and stressful life can get.Now that I've said that, I'm going to start on my tips. 1. Write posts and schedule them in your free time.

If I have a day where I don't have anything planned or I'm not seeing friends until later that day, I write as many posts as I can, and schedule them for Monday, Wednesday and Friday (the days I upload) and I keep writing and scheduling posts. I've once had two weeks worth of posts to share! This means that when life gets too busy, you still have posts to make. 2. Schedule tweets I use Buffer to schedule my tweets. This is my least favourite part of blogging but it's really important to do, as it means your followers can get your content at various times of the day without you having to manually tweet! A controversial thing I use is Crowdfire, so if you don't like it then I suggest you look away now! Crowdfire essentially tweets for you by creating tweets using your posts which you can then choose to tweet now, at a specific time or at the best time. It also can be used for other things but I've never looked into that myself. Both of these methods save you so much time! - I write my Buffer tweets usually before I go to bed and you literally have to open the Crowdfire app and choose what tweets you want to post and when. 3. Be organised! In my early days of blogging, I wasn't very organised at all. I would leave essays to the last minute and not have time to blog. However, after that initial bump, I started using a diary and to-do list and writing down when I would want the first paragraph finished etc. This meant that I had a way to plan what I was going to do every night and then start a blog post. I also have a post on how I organise things. 4. Understand that at times you'll have to decide.I do try to be as organised as possible, but with going to full-time education during the week and working at weekends, I found it a lot more difficult to go on nights out as I wasn't free when the rest of my friends were free. This means that I missed a few nights out, and now that I blog I miss even more. However, my true friends will come round and sit in my house while I write a post and just chat to me, so technically I still get to see them as much. 5. You'll realise you have a bigger support network than you once thought This one is related more to feeling de-motivated but is also good for when life is getting on top of you. When I'm feeling stressed due to how busy I am, I log onto Twitter and see how amazing people are. I have made great friends in the blogging community and bloggers that I've never spoken to RT my tweets and comment on my posts. It really is the nicest feeling ever and helps me so much! I also have a post on how I motivate myself which may be useful!I hope these tips help someone out there and if you find any useful, please let me know in the comments! Sending love and hugs, Ashleigh ♡ xoxo

Monday, 24 July 2017

I was nominated by The Young Cultureto take part in the Sunshine Blogger Award which I'm so happy to be a part of. This award is given to bloggers for being creative, positive and inspiring so I'm so glad I was thought of! Thank you so much for nominating me for this lovely tag!

The rules are to:

Thank the person who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.

Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.

Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.

My favourite thing about blogging is that it gives me a platform to talk about what I am passionate about and I have met sooooo many lovely people as a result of blogging!

What are the most useful things you’ve learnt from blogging?

Definitely organisational skills! I think I've always been pretty organised but I've really had to stick to a schedule and write everything down!

When you first started blogging, did you have a plan of what you were going to blog about? If so, did it change?

I've always known I wanted to blog about beauty, but I never really had a 'plan' in the strictest sense. I knew what I wanted to do and that was it!

If you could change one moment in time, without consequence, what would you change?

There's so many things I'd love to change, but I believe everything happens the way it does for a reason. So I wouldn't change anything (although there's many things I wish never happened!)

Do you have a hero/heroine? If so, why are they your hero/heroine?

I don't have a hero or heroine but I look up to my mum so much. She has four kids, including me!, and is a nurse in the NHS. She works full-time saving lives (literally, she works in A&E) and I just admire her dedication so much.

What’s your favourite song lyric?

My favourite lyric is "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” from The End by The Beatles.

Do you play any instruments? If not, do you wish you did + which one(s)?

I used to play guitar and keyboard until I got bored of them. I wish I could play piano.

Which three songs would you choose to represent your life?

Money - That Poppy (as I am secretly a material gal)

East of Eden - Zella Day (my best friend showed me Hypnotic by Zella Day, and now whenever I listen to her album it makes me think of when we went to Paris together.)

Emily Canham and Saffron Barker. I watch a lot of YouTube but I always go back to these two YouTubers as they seem so lovely and friendly on camera and I just want to be friends with them!

What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to? If you haven’t been to any, who would you most like to see?

The best concert I've ever been to was One Direction on their last tour as this was where me and Francesca became best friends! After this concert, we seen each other every day and I couldn't be more grateful to One Direction for giving me the opportunity to meet her and become so close to her!

Friday, 21 July 2017

Hello! Seeing as it was my birthday a week ago, I thought I should do a post on what I got for my birthday. This post is in no way a way for me to brag at all, I simply love these posts and I thought I should do a post on it too!

My friend Ellie got me a bottle of wine and the cutest card with some money in it. I thought this was super sweet of her as she knows well enough how much I love wine!

From Megan, I got 'Anna and the French Kiss' by Stephanie Perkins. Megan knows how much I love to read and this is a book she always tells me about so her getting me it was a really kind gesture.

My friend Katy got me Flake Away! from Soap and Glory, along with a Birthday Washes set which includes Clean on Me and The Righteous Butter. She also got me two beautiful bath bombs. I'm so excited to use all of these!!

I honestly have no clue why this decided to go portrait instead of landscape, but I got this New Look giftcard from my friend Chloe. I think everyone I know knows how much I love New Look and so I thought this was lovely.

I decided to show you all my cards from various other family members who included money in their card. I absolutely love keeping cards and have done so all my life.

My friend Rachel got me all of this - along with a jumper which is now in the wash :/ so I wasn't able to photograph it. She got me Sparkle perfume from Next, gold-plated loveheart earrings (which I am in love with), oil balancing cleansing wipes and a coaster and keyring from Crete. The coaster gives me major Under The Sea vibes and I am living for it!

I got this H&M giftcard from my uncle and auntie, which is so nice of them as I love H&M too!

My dad got me so many euros and a beautiful lipgloss. This doesn't have a colour name but it is the most beautiful pink shade.

I got this absolutely beautiful pendant from my gran and grandpa along with euros and Paris bedding!

These are all my presents from my three sisters.

I got this lovely hanging decoration from my sister. This is the cutest thing I've seen and I love it so so much! Can you spot the Ariel card?

My little sister got me this t-shirt which has a donut on it - I love it! It's so nice on. My other sister got me this lucky charm necklace in reference to my love of Lucky Charms.

Along with my euros for my holiday, I got this stunning rose gold bracelet from my mum and stepdad.

I am so beyond thankful for everything I got, I really got spoiled and had the best day! Thank you for reading! Asheigh♡xoxo

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Seeing as it's summer, and I am feeling extra summery due to the warm weather that we in Scotland never get, I thought I'd do a post on my essential products that I am loving for summer.

The first product that I am loving is my Naturally Radiant 2-in-1 Moisturiser and serum, which claims to have kiwi and mulberry extracts in it to even out skin tone and revive radiance. I mix this with my Soltan face suncream (which I never took a picture of as it was in my bag.) I love this moisturiser and serum combo! It really makes a difference on my skin, and is so moisturising!I don't wear as much makeup in the sun, as my skin is usually clearer around this time of year. I prime my face with any primer I can find, and then apply either one of two highlighters - High Beam by Benefit or my MUA Undress Your Skin highlighter in "Iridescent Gold". These highlighters are perfect for pale skinned girls as both of these highlights has a pinky undertone to it. I decided to include the Eyelure lashes that I am loving right now - these are the Texture eyelashes in no. 137. I don't wear eyelashes everyday, but when I do I love a pair of textured lashes as these kind look most natural. I have been using the Collection Glam Crystals eyeliners a lot - I have the silver and the purple liners and I think they are so summery!The sunglasses in the middle are a pair of cat eye sunglasses I got from Primark for £3! They are so unlike any sunglasses I have ever seen before and it was love at first sight. I have been a big user of the Bumble & Bumble Don't Blow it (H)air Dryer as I try not to use a lot of heat on my hair and this cream has been a godsend to me! Since my hair is now ombre, it looks nicer (in my opinion) when it's wavy, and my hair is naturally wavy so I've cut down on heat A LOT. I use this all over my towel dried hair, and then I apply a cherry-sized amount of my Lee Stafford creme-lite for curly hair, and scrunch my hair. I then let it air dry for a while, then I put it into a loose pleat. Of course, there are some times I curl/straighten my hair in the mornings!I use my Sexy Mother Pucker lipgloss in the shade Rose and Shine a lot more in the summer as I love the look of sunkissed skin, wavy hair and lipgloss! Also on lips, I recently picked up the Sleek Metallic Matte Me in the shade "Rusted Red". I will be doing a full review of this soon. For mascara, I use my L'Oreal Paris X-Fibre False Lash Superstar mascara which I included in my April favourites post, which you can read here. I love this mascara, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good lengthening mascara. A product that I love to use especially when it is warm is my Bobbi Brown bronzer. I picked this up in Paris last year, I use it everyday and I've not yet hit pan on it! This product is perfect, and doesn't look too orange on me!! Win win!My final favourite product of summer is a choker. I picked this one up in Primark for £1.50 (such a bargain). My favourites are birthstone chokers (my birthstone is a ruby and I think it's so pretty!!). That's the products which are my must-haves for summer, leave me a comment down below and tell me what your summer must haves are!!Thanks for reading, Ashleigh♡xoxo

Monday, 17 July 2017

I'm currently sitting in my bed - with new sheets on, freshly exfoliated legs, a face mask on and I smell like a coconut mango. You'd be forgiven if you thought I was going to do my fake tan tonight, but this is what I do when I feel rubbish about myself. I have always struggled with my body and how I look. I have never been completely happy with my weight, I have always strived to be as skinny as possible, however I'm a size 6 and I've always been this skinny. The thing is, I know I'm not fat. 1000 people could tell me I'm not fat, and I know that, but I have no body positivity. I'm not happy with my body and I honestly couldn't tell you why.Maybe it's because I am so skinny, so putting on any weight makes me feel like I'm fat? Maybe it's because I have insanely high standards of what I should look like in my head, and any slight deviation from that makes me feel bad? To make myself feel better, I usually pamper myself! This is just a way for me to feel better about myself. I also usually watch some reality TV, usually Love Island or Rupaul's Drag Race (both shows I am loving right now!). However, I'm slowly starting to learn to love myself. It's slow and laborious, (I've not cried over how I look in a while now!) but I am getting there! The only advice I can really give to anyone struggling from not liking their body is that loving yourself is hard, but it can happen! In the words of Rupaul "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?!"Love and hugs, Ashleigh♡ xoxo

Friday, 14 July 2017

Hello guys! It's my 19th birthday today, but I couldn't not post today, so I decided to do a review of the L'Oreal Colourista Ombre kit. I ombre-ed my hair last week and I could not be more in love with it!

The kit itself is super easy to use - it contains everything you need to ombre your own hair including a handy brush for distributing the product.

To prep, I put on an old t-shirt that I didn't mind ruining with bleach and parted my hair down the middle so both sections are equal. Then I mixed the ingredients in the kit and put the dye on my ends. With blonde colours on brown hair it is extremely important that you work fast so the colour remains even.

I let the dye sit for 40 minutes before I washed it out with the shampoo given in the kit and then with my Touch of Silver brightening shampoo and intensive conditioner.

This was my hair after 20 minutes.

After drying my hair, I noticed that my ends were dry and split, but that was to be expected with using bleach and is nothing that some keratin oil couldn't fix.

All in all, I had a good experience using L'Oreal ombre hair kits and I would not hesitate to recommend them.

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

I am so sorry for the delay on this post - it became July without me even noticing. In June, I tried not to buy as much makeup as my birthday is on the 14th July. I know that I'm more than likely going to get makeup from a lot of family members, so I didn't want to buy anything new. These are products that I have been loving recently.

First product that I have to rave about is the Garnier micellar water. I'm so late to the party with this one but I love it! On my post on Friday, I included the Soap and Glory Micellar Water, which is just as good for removing your makeup, but makes your skin kind of sticky. I had heard amazing things about this one, and it lives up to the expectations! It feels just like water, and it is great and I love it. The next product I have been loving is the MUA lipstick in the shade 11. This is a lovely coral-pink lipstick and goes well with all makeup looks. I have been reaching for this more and more often. I love my MeechNMia brow pencil! I spoke about it briefly in my June Birchbox post, and it has really become a go-to brow product for me! It's so pigmented and so easy to create the brows of your dreams. I have also been loving my Mon Paris body lotion which I got for Christmas alongside the Mon Paris perfume. I used to wear the perfume all the time, but now that it's summer and there are bees and wasps everywhere, I prefer to use the lotion to ensure I smell lovely!My final favourite is this Barry M Flawless Colour Correcting Kit and I love how this has all the colours a girl could ever need! I have been using the green so much, and I love how blendable and creamy the colours are. If you're a newbie to colour correcting then I recommend this! Thank you for reading! What products did you love in June? Ashleigh♡xoxo

Monday, 10 July 2017

A problem I sometimes deal with is lack of motivation. Sometimes from seeing another blog that looks so much better than mine, another Instagram etc. De-motivation happens, but here are some tricks I have to stop myself from feeling this way.

1. I look at inspirational photos and quotes on We Heart It and Pinterest. This helps me as I feel more ready than ever to do whatever I have to do. 2. I remind myself that if I don't do this today, then I'll have to do it tomorrow. A little stress can make me work wonders! I hate having too much to do in one day, so if I can get something out of the way ASAP I can get on with the rest of my day! 3. I reward myself with something once I've completed the task. It could be something as small as watching a movie (probably a Wes Anderson or Woody Allen film), or treating myself with a shopping day! Whatever it is, I'm ten times more likely to work if I have something to gain. 4. I look at photos and videos of places I want to go. This helps me as I can see what I'd like to do in the future and gives me something to work towards. 5. I remind myself that there are people who want me to do well, whether this is with blogging (I have readers and I don't want to let them down), college work (my family want me to succeed and I want to work in marketing once I have a degree!) or where I work (there are customers who I don't want to disappoint). These are five things which help me feel motivated, hopefully they were helpful! What tips do you follow when you have no motivation? Thank you for reading! Ashleigh♡xoxo

Friday, 7 July 2017

Hi guys! A problem I've been suffering from recently is hormonal skin and the amount of spots that come with it. I know how rubbish it can make me feel, so I'm assuming it's the same for you guys, and so I thought I'd share my current routine to rid my skin of the extra oil it's producing right now and how I try and stay on top of it. I obviously get the odd spot - nothing as bad as some people with terrible acne - but these tricks have been really good to me over the years!

These are all the products I use when my skin is terrible - and some of them I use all the time. It won't surprise you to see the first one is water! I feel like people assume water alone will just instantly clear your skin up and I've tried to show that isn't the case! I drink so much water - I'd say I drink about two litres worth a day and it really helps with your skin when used with other products. I picked a bottle of strawberry water as I tend to choose Volvic strawberry water as a treat from plain water, and also to show you that I don't think it makes a massive difference! First thing I do when I wake up is wash my face and when my skin is troubling me I use my Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel face wash. Witch Hazel and Tea Tree are known for their skin-clearing properties and this cleanser smells magical and awakens me instantly. I then use the toner from the same range and my Soap and Glory Speed Plump moisturiser. I also take one Vitamin E tablet a day, this protects skin from pollution etc. and helps to improve the overally condition of skin. After my day, I remove my makeup with my Soap and Glory 5 in 1 Magnetizing Micellar Makeup Remover and wash my face, usually with my Soap and Glory face wash which I reviewed here. If I exfoliate (which I do once a week) I use my Polaar Artic Cotton Face Scrub, moisturise with the same moisturiser as before and then I use my Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Night Treatment Gel over the top!If I've exfoliated, I usually use a face mask (usually a moisturising tissue mask) before I apply my treatment gel but after my moistriser. This way my skin is extra hydrated as your body tends to produce more oil when it is not hydrated, which in turn produces more spots!I have seen improvements in my hormonal skin and I hope these tips and tricks help some people out! Thanks for reading! Ashleigh♡xoxo

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Today I thought I'd show you an eyeshadow look that I love. It's so quick and easy to do and I feel it's so easy to wear during the day and at night - it's so versatile and that's why I love it! Also - I just have to apologise for my eyelashes in the second picture - I have no idea what happened!

As you can see, this look is so beautiful and can easily be dressed up or down! I first off primed my eyes with my MUA Pro-Base Eye Primer. This primer does the job for me (I always find that eyeshadows crease in my lids, no matter what primer I use) however this one keeps the colours looking more vibrant. At £2.50, it's an absolute steal and it does the same job as my Benefit primer.

Next, I use my Naked palette to create this look. My Naked palette is definitely my go-to palette as I find that it has all the colours I use on my lids. I first off use the shade 'Toasted' and I run this shade along my crease with a fluffy crease brush. A dupe for this I've found is the pink shade in the Sleek palette. I've done a post comparing the Naked palette and the Sleek palette here. Next, I grab the shade 'Hustle' on a fluffy, tulip shaped brush (I used my Spectrum brush C06) and create a "V" shape on the outer corner of my eye and I blend this with 'Toasted'. Then I use more of the colour 'Toasted' to the centre of my lid and then I grab the pearly white shade, 'Sin' on my finger and press that into my lid until it reaches 'Toasted'.

I finally run 'Hustle' under my lashline and apply mascara to my lashes. My mascara of choice right now is Thick and Fast by Soap and Glory. (can we pretend my lashes don't look so bad please?).

I wear this eye look a lot, especially when I'm in a bit of a rush as it's so fast and easy to do!

Thank you all for reading! Hope you're having a great day♡ Ashleigh♡xoxo

Monday, 3 July 2017

Happy Monday! Hope you're all having a lovely day! Today I thought I'd do a post on what's in my bag. I think looking at people's bags and what's in them is the easiest way to find out more about a person. This bag I have is a smaller bag which I usually keep inside whatever bag I'm using full of essential bits and pieces that I can't live without!

I use this cute London bag, which I got for Christmas from Accesorize and it's the perfect size to put all my essential products in! I keep a packet of NYX matte blotting paper in my bag; I love having this with me at all times of the day as I get really oily around my T-zone and cheeks, and sometimes powder alone doesn't help! I picked these up in Boots for £3.50, and you can also get coloured ones for £5.00!My next thing that I love to keep with me is a tub of Vaseline, this tub I have is Vaseline rosy lips as it adds a tint to your lips which I love! I hate to admit that I often forgeet to put on lipstick in the morning so this is a saviour for me!In my small bag I keep some Hand Maid hand gel by Soap and Glory. This hand gel smells so nice! I absolutely love this fragrance and I find that it isn't too drying on my hands unlike other hand sanitisers! I have this Merci Handy hand cream which is a lifesaver for me! It softens my hands almost instantly and it smells beautiful! Complete holy grail product.

I love my Moana Cream to use on my elbows! One thing I absolutely hate is having really dry elbows in winter and clothing sticking to your dry patches. This product instantly smoothes skin and smells absolutely amazing. I also keep my Hello Flawless! powder by Benefit in my bag. I use this with my blotting paper, and it keeps my makeup oil free for hours, which is good for me! It also keeps my makeup intact all day which is perfect when I don't apply a setting spray. Finally, I keep a bottle of my Dove Invisible Dry antipersprant. I think it is so important to keep an antipersipirant with you at all times. These are my absolute desert island products and are the products which I take with me everywhere! What product/products do you absolutely love and is your deser island product? Thank you so much for reading! Ashleigh♡ xoxo